Yearwood is currently transitioning to female and taking hormone therapies

According to AP, Miller and Yearwood also topped the 100-meter state outdoor championships last year, and Miller won the 300 indoors this season.

Critics say their gender identity amounts to an unfair advantage, expressing a familiar argument in a complex debate for transgender athletes as they break barriers across sports around the world from high school to the pros.

“I have learned a lot about myself and about other people through this transition,” Yearwood said.

"I always try to focus most on all of the positive encouragement that I have received from family, friends, and supporters.

“I use the negativity to fuel myself to run faster.”

Connecticut is one of 17 states that allow transgender high school athletes to compete without restrictions, according to Transathlete.com, which tracks state policies in high school sports across the country.

Seven states have restrictions that make it difficult for transgender athletes to compete while in school, like requiring athletes to compete under the gender on their birth certificate or allowing them to participate only after going through sex-reassignment procedures or hormone therapies.

The other states either have no policy or handle the issue on a case-by-case basis.

Yearwood acknowledges she is stronger than many of her cisgender competitors but says girls who are not transgender may have other advantages.

“One high jumper could be taller and have longer legs than another, but the other could have perfect form, and then do better,” she said.

“One sprinter could have parents who spend so much money on personal training for their child, which in turn, would cause that child to run faster.”

Miller, who declined to be interviewed for this story, has said that if they felt a competitor had an unfair advantage, it would simply push them to try to improve.

One of their competitors, Selina Soule, says the issue is about fairness on the track with wider implications.

The Glastonbury High School junior finished eighth in the 55, missing out on qualifying for the New England regionals by two spots.

Soule believes that had Miller and Yearwood not run, she would be on her way to race in Boston in front of more college coaches.

“We all know the outcome of the race before it even starts; it’s demoralizing,” she said.

“I fully support and am happy for these athletes for being true to themselves.

"They should have the right to express themselves in school, but athletics have always had extra rules to keep the competition fair.”

The Connecticut Association of Schools-Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference, which governs high school sports in Connecticut, says its policy follows a state anti-discrimination law that says students must be treated in school by the gender with which they identify.

“This is about someone’s right to compete,” executive director Glenn Lungarini said.

“I don’t think this is that different from other classes of people, who, in the not too distant past, were not allowed to compete.

"I think it’s going to take education and understanding to get to that point on this issue.”

"But cisgender girls should have the right to compete and succeed, too. How do you balance that? That’s the question.”

Yearwood is hoping to qualify for this year’s National Scholastic Athletics Foundation national championships in March.

The group recently adopted new rules allowing pre-pubescent girls to participate with their affirmed gender, though no ages are specified.

Post-pubescent transgender girls must have completed sex-reassignment surgery and “a sufficient amount of time must have passed” after the operation or hormone therapy “to minimize gender-related competitive advantages.”